Reallocation: Bye London, Hello Stoke-on-Trent

I am so relieved we finally moved! Process itself was extremely difficult, long and nerve-racking. I don’t want to experience it ever again. Or at least not any time soon!

Thursday and Friday back in Romford were super busy! We had to finish off all the packing, plus clean the flat neatly . I literally finished moping the floor the minute agency came to inspect the property. I was shattered!

Edward was even more tired, as he had to carry all the stuff downstairs. But thankfully he was not alone. His brother Jim was helping us with moving. I honestly don’t know how we would have coped without him! Boys started transferring boxes downstairs before 7am. At around 8.30am van has arrived and they loaded all on the van.

Moving all belongings from Romford to Stoke-on-Trent wasn’t cheap. We hired a big van and it was all packed up with our things. We paid nearly £300 for ‘a man with a van’ service. We could have found cheaper to be honest- the guy that we hired only had a small van, so getting a big one was additional cost for us. But we decided to go for this one, as Brad, the driver, seemed to be very reliable and honest. He told us immediately that the cost is going to be more because of the van that he had to hire. Brad even gave us the name of another driver, who would have been cheaper, since he owns a big van. We didn’t go for a cheaper version, as we built that confidence with Brad and we really didn’t go wrong. Brad helped us with loading and unloading stuff, big thanks to him, all went so smoothly. If you by any chance will ever need a man with a van in east London, let me know, I will happily pass Brad’s contact details on.

Very first evening at the new place. Even Chinese take away is so tasty here!!!! (Sorry about the quality of the picture..)

So we are here, in Stoke-on-Trent now and it’s hard to explain in words of how different but happy we feel!

We fell in love with the area where we live immediately! It’s pretty new, very tidy and well looked after. But most importantly it feels a proper family place! Pretty much everyone around have children. Kids love playing together on the street outside. The street is residential, very quiet, so it’s safe for them to play (not for Daniella and Harry yet of course). Luka has found many friends on the first day already. She seems to like here a lot!

There is a huge park just around the corner with a lovely playground. Luka often goes there with her new friends, she still cannot believe the freedom that she gets here, in Stoke-on-Trent! 🙂

Here is so much nature, so much greenness around. I am loving it, it was one thing I was missing in London. Parks, forests, even a lake, within short walking distance from our new home. We went to apply for school for Luka. The road that we had to take wowed us big time! Through the forest, along the lake (see my video). Luka would have to take this way every single day to school and to come back home. It’s exciting, but in the mean time I have a little thought at the back of my mind if it is really safe. However I believe there will be many kids going that way to school every morning, so should be all right. I’ll go with Luka on her first day just to make sure though.

The weather so far was lovely, really cannot complain. However most of the time there is 1 or 2 degrees less in Stoke-on-Trent than in London. Oh well..

The house itself is nice and warm. I am still unpacking though, not even half way yet. But hey, now we got a garage, which means I don’t need to store all the boxes in a living room! Life is getting better and better! 🙂

Edward enjoys going to work by car instead of taking packed train or tube. It’s only 10-15 minutes drive for him if there is no traffic. So cool!

Daniella thinks that we are on holiday. 😀 She simply ignores us when we tell her that we are going to live here. 🙂 She really likes it here though, especially the garden! I am delighted to see my children so happy!

So far we didn’t have any regrets about reallocating. And I really hope we won’t have any later. We are just missing our families and friends back in London, but hey, we are only few hours drive away. We will visit them often. x